It's a mixer or... lets mix it up!
Have you ever been to a party then something happens that just aggravates you to the point that you see red? When you have as many cats as I do it's a common occurrence. I'm not talking about me or my guests, I'm talking about my cats.
To get to know them is to get to love them. For the most part they are all well behaved and social but just like oil and water some of them just don't mix. I currently have F1 through F6 Savannahs and even a Maine Coon boy and boy can the fur fly. The matriarch, Moja has been with me the longest now that Seyah has passed. She is a F1 with very strong mothering instincts and is very protective with anything she considers "hers" as in her kittens. She is spayed now but still likes to mother the others. When I got Ruby , she adopted her as "hers" Ruby, my other F1, even though she is a monster of a cat compared to Moja. Ruby will still get down on the floor and put her head down for Moja to groom her when she enters a room that Moja is in. Raising a kitten as yours has strong life long influences on the behavior of the cat. Ruby is 3 years old now and has had a couple of litters of her own. One female that she had in her last litter I kept. Her name is Rose. She is a large big eared rosetted girl, a tad shy but a good cat. Well Moja has adopted Rose as her own. Moja has been spayed for 3 months now and Rose and Alice , my F4 , both about 8 months old are still nursing on Moja. Did I mention that Moja has a very strong motherly instinct? In any case my home living arrangement is such that most of the cats are kept in their own rooms and I have 2 "pets" that have free range of the house. Those are Velcro and Rambo (aka fluff, fluff meister, fluffy and "Aye Caramba" or just Caramba). They are wonderful very well behaved animals. Fluff is only about 8 months old and was raised with Rose and Alice. He is actually here side of my lap as I type. He's a real purr monster and a love to have around. Velcro is a bit shy at first but once he gets to know you , well he's like... wait for it... "velcro". He loves attention and when he wants it it's hard to get him off of you. He also likes to think he's the real man of the house but in reality he's a big chicken. Velcro is known for his butt toss. He likes to come up to you and then roll and flip his butt so it lands on you and therefore you can proceed to give him his butt scratches. He does not like his rump bit though, which is what Moja likes to do.
OK enough getting to know the parties involved. Now for the Rumble part. Some time ago Moja for some reason decided she did not like Rambo (the fluff), and went after him, keeping in mind that this cat grew up with the other two. Rambo was pretty young, about 6 or 7 months old and his sweet self could not come to grips why Moja would do such a thing. I figured she did not want her babies to get knocked up either. I figured it was best to keep him somewhat separated from the other two or any other female that was intact. I was not exactly ready for the fluff to father a litter of teenaged mutant ninja turtles, oops I mean SavannaCoons, or CoonSVAs, (Coonvanas for short). He could practice his mating skills on Velcro if so desired. I think Velcro is a switch hitter anyway, or as Mike would put it, he's a metro-sexual. Not sure what that means.
So Rambo is not in the master bedroom with Rose, Alice and Moja anymore. He's out with Velcro in the rest of the house, and loving the extra room but does miss the others. His other siblings or at least adopted siblings. They all grew up together and loved playing together. Fluff really liked Alice and probably a little too much. I dont let her come out to play very much unless I can keep a hawk eye on the two of them, or else I would be getting those CoonVanas. After a while I let Moja out but the instant she saw the Coon she went after him with the intent of ending his life. Poor Rambo never knew what happened and was screaming for help like I never heard before, I never knew he could make such noises.
Now comes the ven diagram of who can be with who in which rooms. Moja can be with only a select few in pretty much any room. The boys would need to be locked away in a room or cat run while Moja has her romp through the house as she is used to doing. This went on for a while.
I then had an idea relating to something one of my mentors told me a few of years back. I morphed this idea into one of my own. One thing that I was able to do was put a harness on Moja and walk her around in the house while the boys where out. At first she did try to give chase but was denied by the leash. I then proceeded to put an Elizabethan collar on her then set her free. She was very clunky and had limited hearing and sight. She still gave chase but the boys could easily out run her and the collar would stop her when she was navigating furniture. I then added a harness with a six food cord tied to it as a leash. This pretty much did the trick but putting on the E-collar was a pain.
I figured if there was a muzzle for a cat, one with eye holes that may do the trick especially if her nails where well trimmed. I have a leather muzzle for the vets office but I could not use that unless I wanted an angry F1 running around blind. I then took a sock and cut holes for ears and eyes and then there was a "masked F1 avenger". It was very cute. Moja still went after the boys once or twice but soon realized that it was no use and concentrated her efforts on removing her mask. I did let her out with this mask a few times and she was pretty much over chasing the boys. The next step in this social experiment was only have the harness on her. I put the harness with the 6 foot cord on it. The cord was tied in a knot with frayed ends similar to what you would see on a cat toy. While this did not slow her down as much as the E-collar or the mask it did kind of embarrass her. When Ruby and the F4 kittens (3 of them from Paprika) where out they thought Moja was some kind of play toy. Ruby being at 20+ pound cat would bite on the end and try to drag or take Moja around for a walk. Those of you that have played with a Savannah with a string attached toy know what I'm talking about. In any case Moja did not give chase and the boys where also interested in this new "toy". One of the problems of Moja chasing them was that each time they saw her they would automatically run for the hills. What happens when a Cat sees its pray run? It is natural for it to give chase. Moja also likes cardboard boxes, to be in them and also to shred them. Her only hope at this time was to find a box, which I normally leave out just for her, and to take refuge in it. So far so good, she seems to be OK with the boys around her and has resisted the will to give chase. The next step will be a big one, removing the cord on the harness, then removing the harness.
The central point to this formulation is that if you can distract the aggressor enough and add some play time with the others the aggressor will learn that play time is a good thing even if she did not like them to begin with.
Leonard D.
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When looking into Seyahs eyes you could pretty much tell what he was thinking. The best time where spent on the couch watching TV, listening to music, on the computer or just reading with him at my side all the while purring like a cat that has never been more satisfied. He would turn his head and gaze at me with those wonderful aqua green eyes and the gaze would pierce right though me. When he turned to look at me it wold be with this over accentuated turn of the head. Everything he did was larger than life and that is how I will remember the boy.
